Syllabus of Engineering to include IoT, Big Data & Artificial Intelligence from 2018. The agenda for this act is to overcome the problem of falling placements of Engineering graduates, as said by a top official of AICTE. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the body by which the technical education of the country is run. The changes will be introduced in the syllabus of engineering from the next academic session starting from July 2018.

AICTE 'Plan 2030' for Engineering Graduates

TheAll India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has prepared a plan called "Plan 2030" to address the issue of fewer engineering graduates landing jobs and AICTE will hire private agencies to overcome the problem. Based on the study, the AICTE will tweak the curriculum so that the engineering students can keep pace with the fast-changing technology and fulfil the requirements for the job market.

AICTE Engineering Placement Statistics: As per data released by AICTE, Placement statistics of engineering students are as follows:

Number of Engineering Institutes in India

More than 3,000

Number of students admitted in privateengineering colleges in 2015-16

More than 800,000

Number of students who got jobs

340,000

Syllabus of Engineering - Know the Proposed Changes

AICTE is preparing the model engineering curriculum on the recommendation of 11 subject committees set up for Engineering and Technical Institutes; it does not include IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and NITs (National Institute of Technology). The Human Resource Development Ministry has also approved the curriculum, as confirmed by the Ministry source. Engineering Courses in India to undergo Syllabus Revision: AICTE

In the revised curriculum, it is stated that the theory classes will get decreased from 30 to 20 every week.

At present an undergraduate student has to write 24 exams, these will be reduced.

The part that will be removed from the old syllabus is Steam engines, whereas the added ones are Bullet trains, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics and Internet of things (IoT). These parts are added to the syllabus as they contribute to the latest technical advancements, and will help the Indian Engineers to be better for all the norms of employability.

Some mandatory courses will also be included in Environmental Sciences, the Indian Constitution and the Essence of Traditional Knowledge, but the students will not be getting marks for these subjects.

According to Officials, the new syllabus will be designed such that students will get more time for their final semester projects so that they can understand industry requirements and have the more practical knowledge to fulfil that. In summer breaks in second and third-year students have to do mandatory internships also.

According to Pradipta Banerji, IIT Bombay professor, changes are welcomed, but he also added that “education is not (only) about gaining skills, it is also about broadening the minds.” So, the students need to think independently too.

Why changes are required in the syllabus of engineering

MP Poonia, the AICTE vice-chairman, told a newspaper that this is being done to take pressure off students who come to engineering institutes after undergoing board examinations and extensive coaching they don’t need to be drained further. They want to capitalise on their creativity. Another council official said that the need to update the syllabus stemmed from rapid technological changes.

In India, there are 3000 engineering institutes which produce around seven Lakh engineers per year, but only fifty percent of them are employed. The situation is critical, and for that, there was a need for change.

According to the official, graduates are not aware of the recent trends and how they would be used in the real world. Some institutes are still using the old syllabi teaching tools. The new curriculum is introduced to improve all this, here AI deals with the robotics and machines, with the help of “Artificial Brains”, IoT refers to connecting any device to the Internet for better feasibility like washing machines, refrigerator, lamps etc.

An official said that AICTE is planning to introduce exam reforms and a committee has been formed to work out modalities.